Boundary Negotiating Artifacts in Personal Informatics

TLDR

Patient‑generated data are increasingly common, and smartphone apps and wearables facilitate collection, yet commercial tools often fail to support effective patient‑provider collaboration. The study investigates patients’ expectations and current collaboration practices around patient‑generated data, analyzes misunderstandings and privacy concerns, and proposes future development of a stage‑based model and boundary‑negotiating artifact theory. Researchers surveyed 211 patients, interviewed 18 patients, and re‑analyzed 21 provider interviews, applying theories of patient‑provider collaboration to examine misunderstandings and privacy issues. Collaboration occurs at every stage of self‑tracking, with patients and providers creating boundary‑negotiating artifacts to support the collaboration.

Abstract

Patient-generated data is increasingly common in chronic disease care management. Smartphone applications and wearable sensors help patients more easily collect health information. However, current commercial tools often do not effectively support patients and providers in collaboration surrounding these data. This paper examines patient expectations and current collaboration practices around patient-generated data. We survey 211 patients, interview 18 patients, and re-analyze a dataset of 21 provider interviews. We find that collaboration occurs in every stage of self-tracking and that patients and providers create boundary negotiating artifacts to support the collaboration. Building upon current practices with patient-generated data, we use these theories of patient and provider collaboration to analyze misunderstandings and privacy concerns as well as identify opportunities to better support these collaborations. We reflect on the social nature of patient-provider collaboration to suggest future development of the stage-based model of personal informatics and the theory of boundary negotiating artifacts.